ANDROGYNOUS Chic

I got confirmation recently in Vogue that I am fashionable. Apparently “androgyny” is in and the number of fucks I give on what section of the department store my clothes come from are nonexistent. Clothes don't have a gender. Wear what looks good on you or what makes you feel good.

I'm about to be hella fashionable. I gots a 75 cent raise at work and now it will be Gucci! Prada! Alexander and McQueen! It will be couture only. 

Vogue's May issue also had an article in it that I was very excited to read. It was on transgender issues. It featured this stunning model, Andreja Pejic. It was all very well written and I love supermodels. Whether it be Cara Develigne or Joan Smalls. 

Andreja Pejic is a stunning transgender model. She was known for her androgynous look and would model both men and women's clothes. She was born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is in Europe. She didn't grow up there as there was the Bosnian war and instead she grew up in Australia. The article says that she has this “unplaceable accent”. I can imagine.

She recently underwent gender confirmation surgery. From what I was able to gather from the article Andreja had a relatively supportive family. She used puberty suppressing hormones as a child with the blessing of her mother. It's not easy to be trans.

On the left is Andreja Pejic and on the right is Tallulah Morton

It's incredibly important that Vogue and other publications show case transgender individuals in their magazine. Andreja is certainly stunning. Representation is important. Until recently there really wasn't transgender representation on television or in print. Ugly Betty did have Alexis Meade and that's one of the great things about that show. Is how it really tackled and showed a diverse group of people. Of course Alexis was only on for one and a half seasons at most. But, now we have Laverne Cox on Orange is the New Black, Bruce Jenner will be showcasing the process on some form of documentary series.

Someone said to me that they thought transgenders were “freaks” until they watched the Bruce Jenner interview on ABC. That's why representation is so important. Not only do transgendered individuals need to see people like them, but cisgender people need to be exposed to it as well. It needs to be normalized. There is nothing abnormal about being transgender.

Transgender is going to be the social rights issue of this decade and coming decades. I love that Andreja Pejic was put in Vogue. She's a beautiful woman and twenty years ago she would not have made it. As a society we're making slow progress in the right direction. 

Gender and sexuality are far more complicated then just two options. They are fluid concepts that don't have restrictions placed on them. It can be hard to really understand what transgender is. No matter what your level of comprehension all really have to do is to support transgender individuals. I will never understand how people can be opposed to human rights. Publicly identifying yourself as transgender is a hard process for someone to go through. The one thing you can do for a friend or family member who comes to you with this is to support them. And, be there for them. You don't have to understand to be there for them. Support them. Protect them. Being transgendered is one of the hardest things to be and they need all the support they can get.